Brain metastases from cervical carcinoma: overview of pertinent literature

Brain metastasis from cervical carcinoma is rare with only about 100 cases documented in the literature and an incidence among cervical carcinoma patients of 0.6%. The median interval between diagnosis of cervical carcinoma and brain metastases is 18 months. The brain can be the only site of distant metastasis of cervical carcinoma ("isolated brain metastases") (46.8%) or brain metastasis can be part of a disseminated cervical carcinoma involving also other sites of the body (53.2%). Brain metastasis of cervical carcinoma affects most often the cerebrum (73%) and can be either single (one metastasis) (50.6%) or multiple (> or = two metastases) (49.4%). Treatment of brain metastases has evolved over the years from whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) alone to multimodal therapy including surgical resection (craniotomy) or stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) followed by WBRT +/- chemotherapy. The median overall survival after diagnosis of brain metastases is four months; however, a better survival is achieved with multimodal therapy (craniotomy followed by WBRT) compared to craniotomy alone or WBRT alone. The worst survival is observed in patients with no treatment. Although based on a very small number of patients, the best survival is noticed in patients having SRS either alone or in combination with other treatment modality.